The XRP case began in December when the SEC alleged that Ripple’s sales of the cryptocurrency XRP from 2013 to the present were illegal, unregistered security offerings rather than the distribution of a digital token to build a payments network
In the infamous and drawn out legal battle between the US SEC and Ripple Labs founders, owners of the Ripple token have pleaded to intervene in the case citing lack of representation of their interest.
They have been given approval by the court of the Southern District of New York. According to Judge Analisa Torres, the intervenors have until April 19 to submit their plea.
The lawyers representing the Ripple Lab founders backed up the argument of the Token holders saying that the SEC’s lack of clarity about XRP’s nature disqualifies the exchange commission as a plaintiff.
The SEC, according to the defendants, has “conclusory allegations suggesting XRP is always a security,” implying that “every offer, sale, or transaction involving XRP is subject to the panoply of regulatory requirements mandated by the federal securities laws.”
Deaton Law Firm, the representative of the Token holders supported this notion saying that the SEC’s claim that all XRP are securities, “from 2013 to the present,” appears to imply that “All XRP constitute unregistered securities, including the XRP in the accounts of the XRP Holders.
The XRP holders however are asking the SEC to exclude their XRP from the “security” nomenclature.
Victor Nnadi is an Independent Economics Researcher and a Securities Trader.
